Free Frost by Phaedra Weldon Page A

leave you with her. Choosing one of you wasn't a favoritism thing—it's just that Jason found me in the forest first."  
    I nodded. What else was I going to say?
    "Jason took over as Jack Frost with a bit of training by another lad who was equally eager to be Jack Frost. His name was Lee."  
    "So why didn't you make him Jack Frost?"  
    "Because he wasn't—he didn't have the natural talent. And he's a barbegazi."  
    "A what?"
    "Ever heard of Santa's elves?"  
    "Well yeah."  
    "Those are barbegazi which aren't really elves but a kind of winter dwarf. Lee fancies himself a candidate for a better job but he doesn't stand a chance—not with scion readily available. Jason was born to it because he was scion, same as you. You're half deity by birth. Which again—my mistake. Not something we're supposed to do."  
    "So, you getting mom pregnant was a bad thing?"
    "Not bad, just frowned on. Back then I only half listened to Nature about the dangers of humans and deities and power. We try to stop the half breeds because of wild magic." Winter's shoulders lowered. "Nature wasn't happy I only brought one of you back. That whole half breed thing again. She didn't want you in the world, carrying around the power of a deity. But I knew Jovita needed you to keep her sane. So I made sure to seal your power one night as you slept and then told Nature you didn't survive."  
    A wolf howled somewhere and I blinked. "You…you sealed my power?"
    "Yes. Unfortunately when Jason died the Natural Order took over and the spell was dissolved. Thus your hair," he pointed at my head. "That annoying ability to make frost at a touch? Are you making a room cold now?"  
    I nodded slowly, a little panicked. "Yeah…"  
    "Ever heard the saying nature abhors a vacuum?"  
    "Yes."  
    "It's true. So the minute Jason died, the role fell on you."  
    Mom's words came back to me. "So you really are going to turn me into Jack Frost."  
    He held up his hand. "No. No I'm not. I promised your mother I wouldn't do that. And right now I'm playing dumb about your existence. But you keep using your power and she'll zero in on where you are. Jack—if you want to stay human and lead a normal life you're going to have to stop freezing things."  
    I'm not sure when I rolled over from disbelief to wow this is real , but it didn't matter. What did matter was preventing anything from taking me away from Sarah and our baby and the life I'd carved out for myself. "But I can't stop. I'm not even controlling when it happens. It just does."
    "That's the problem with wild magic and why it's frowned on." Winter rubbed at his chin. His white hair twinkled under the gray sky.  
    "Can't you just make that spell again? Seal it up?"
    "'Fraid not. I could when you were eight because you didn't believe in it. But now that you're older—it just won't work. And you've already manifested it—which as I said—is obvious from your hair. And let me be frank here," he leaned forward. "Nature hates hybrids. Wild magic users."
    "Why?"
    "Because of what happened to Jason," His expression shifted and I saw genuine sadness reflected in his eyes. "Hybrids—like you—or as your friend Crow calls Nunnehi— breeds with it the innate desire for love and companionship. Being born with both worlds—mortal and immortal—things get a little fuzzy."  
    "I'm not following."  
    "If Nature chooses a human to become an incarnation—not sure what else to call us—then it's done after death. Doing it that way is much easier because most of the time the chosen doesn't have a problem accepting it and never desires to go back to their former life. But hybrids—eh—you don't really die. And if you do die, like Jason, it's pretty much a given Nature can't chose them again. Why? No one knows." He looked up at the sky. "Not much time left so you have to listen very carefully. Lee really wants the job, but the job apparently wants you. The time limit on this is usually about seventy-two hours and you